Labor Leader Tom Stoneburner Dies

Sparks, Nev., 2-21-2005 (Updated 2-27-2005)— Longtime Nevada labor leader Tom Stoneburner died of a massive heart attack at his home in Palomino Valley north of Sparks. He was 60 years of age. His colleagues at Circus-Circus Hotel-Casino in Reno are devastated, as are his many friends and associates in the Nevada labor movement. We have lost a great champion. Stoney worked his heart out for Nevada workers and the proof lies below. All of Nevada labor mourns. Our hearts weep for his wife, Kathy, and his family. Watch this site for new information as it becomes available and say a prayer to your conception of the Almighty to grant Stoney godspeed on his journey home.

FIRST IN HISTORY. He organized and won back-to-back union elections for security guards at two major Reno hotel casinos. The 1994 election at Circus Circus was the first time in Nevada history that any group of casino security personnel had voted in favor of group representation by forming a union. The Circus Circus win generated other organizing drives, most notably at the Reno Hilton in 1995. The hotel management refused to bargain in good faith toward a contract, so Stoneburner, by then president of United Plant Guard Workers of America Local 1010, took the workers out on strike.

His timing was perfect. The 1996 Hot August Strike at Hot August Nights, northern Nevada's biggest special event, resulted in a contract with the region's largest resort property. The union, now renamed the Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA), still represents the Reno Hilton guards. See http://nevadalabor.com/barbwire/barb99/barb12-12-99.html

Circus Circus never came to a contract and implemented a series of delaying actions until the pond could be stocked with anti-union new hires and a decertification election held. SPFPA Local 824 won an election to represent security staff at the Flamingo Hilton in Laughlin, Nev., several years after the Reno Hilton contract. They secured their first contract in 2001 and now represent almost the entire security staff at the southern Nevada resort on the Colorado River. [EDITOR'S NOTE: I apologize for the first news bulletin about Stoney's passing which failed to take account of the Laughlin local.]

Stoneburner's experience with the difficult and near-impossible roadblocks thrown up by federal and state law against union organizing led him toward helping those who were not only without a union, but would probably never enjoy the benefits of one. In doing so, he paved the way for the guerrilla union campaigns of the future.

He formed the Alliance for Workers Rights in 1997 to champion those without a voice. While still maintaining his full-time job at Circus Circus, Stoneburner worked tirelessly for the least among us. He championed the cause of workers killed and injured in Nevada industrial plant explosions.

At one point, Stoneburner even helped raise and arrange for shipment of felled workers bodies back to Mexico. Perhaps his many years of tireless activity in his "off-hours" proved too much, ending his time early. Maybe Tom Stoneburner died for the sins of those who abuse so many for the sake of 30 pieces of Silver State silver.

Stony was a man ahead of his time

Culinary and Bartenders unions push to eliminate costly work cards, a throwback to the days of the mob
Las Vegas Sun 2-15-2008

Against heavy odds, he chose to fight, and often win, the great issues of his time. Expensive and repressive "permission to work cards" or "police cards" are now much more uniform. Until about two years ago, someone working two jobs in adjacent cities would have to pay for two work cards and background checks. Tom Stoneburner was in the forefront of changing archaic local laws and moving toward a uniform statewide standard.

Stoneburner fought the Sparks City Council in a continuing series of skirmishes when the city criminalized looking for work. Day laborers seeking employment in front of the state casual labor office on Galletti Way in the Rail City were continually rousted by Sparks police. Many could not avail themselves of the services of the state office because it provided no Spanish-speaking workers to assist them. The state finally hired some bilingual staff and the city and the Alliance for Workers' Rights have had a truce for the past two years.
See http://nevadalabor.com/barbwire/barb03/barb11-16-03.html

In January, 2001, Stoneburner signed a groundbreaking agreement with the Nevada Department of Agriculture to provide Spanish translators to assist during state inspections. The contract, signed January 9, 2001, was "expected to increase fair treatment and safety for immigrant workers at greenhouses, nurseries and landscape service companies." (Daily Sparks Tribune 1-14-2001) Stoneburner's triumphant press release read "Immigrant Farm Workers Break Sound Barrier."

Stoneburner advocated the creation of a state ombudsman for farm workers who have few rights under the law. (Reno Gazette-Journal guest editorial 2-3-2001) Somewhere, Cesar Chavez was smiling.

Stoneburner formed a network to assist fired Sundowner Hotel workers who were left without health insurance, jeopardizing the lives of some who could no longer afford vital medication.

WORKING FOR WORKING WOMEN. Stoneburner garnered worldwide attention for oppressed Nevada workers by supporting Harrah's bartender Darlene Jespersen, who was fired by Harrah's-Reno for the sin of refusing to wear makeup after 20 years of exemplary service without it. Stoneburner organized "Boss, Kiss My Foot" picketing demonstrations in both Reno and Las Vegas to sensitize the casino industry to the permanent maiming of their cocktail servers caused by mandatory spike heels. Several major gambling corporations eventually changed to a more foot friendly policy.

The Alliance's accomplishments and initiatives in various states of progress over the past seven years are truly almost too numerous to mention. Here are a few:

Tip Tax Reform
Unemployment Appeals Reform
The Kiss My Foot campaign
Work Card Reform
The Farmworkers Project
The Day Laborer Project
Industrial Plant Safety

Stoneburner hosted a public access television show entitled "Alliance for Workers Rights" which still airs on Washoe, Carson and Douglas channels. He taped his last two programs on Feb. 11.

Both of the programs centered around his last crusade to help recently stiffed and stranded construction workers. He was visibly upset and shaken at what he termed outright thievery by employers who refused to pay their employees. He was personally and emotionally invested in winning justice for the homeless construction workers who remain owed about $96,000 in back wages.

Perhaps this fight was one too many for someone who had worked around the clock for so many years.

Nevada workers have lost a great and innovative champion. Nevada unions have much to learn from Stoneburner's tactics of essentially bringing workers together in a concerted manner – the very definition of unions under federal law – while bypassing the expensive, time-consuming, often perverted and usually unsuccessful election process.

Stoneburner showed how community organizing, public pressure and media savvy could often be more effective than garden variety techniques.

A laundry list of labor luminaries recently published a long editorial advising organized labor to make some radical changes in its methods of operation.

They both reinforce and expand upon reforms being considered at the highest levels of the union movement. Well and good, but let them all look at the accomplishments of Tom Stoneburner first. Does any Nevada union currently produce its own regular television program?

A FITTING MEMORIAL

On August 13, 2002, the Nevada State Legislature's Legislative Commission Subcommittee on Industrial Explosions considered two of Stoneburner's proposals. One stands out: "Amend NRS (Nevada Revised Statutes) criminal statutes that apply to cases of negligent homicide, manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter to include prosecution of corporations, executives and managers of corporations, who knowingly or negligently cause or allow conditions to exist that result in the death or serious injury of workers. Empanel a task force to recommend to the Legislature and Governor laws designed to help protect Nevada's workers through prosecution of persons who violate workplace safety standards."

The legislature is now in session. Does any lawmaker have a spare bill draft available for the Tom Stoneburner Worker Safety Act of 2005? Let us know and we'll be there to support it.

More details will be published here as they become available. Memorial statements and remembrances will be most welcome and published.

My Sunday column in the Sparks Tribune will be a more personal set of stories about my friend Stoney.

Adios, compadre.

Be well. Raise hell.

Your friend forever,

Andrew Barbano

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Adiós, querido compañero Stoney